Gobi Paratha/Cauliflower Stuffed Paratha

I just realized I don't have many Roti or Naan recipe on the blog even though I make them almost everyday. I am not sure as to why I did not. Anyway, lets start with Gobi Paratha as Cauliflower is available in abundance in Chennai now.

Ingredients
For Filling
Cauliflower - 2 Cups (Washed,Cleaned and Grated)
Onion - 1 (Medium, finely Chopped)
Green Chillies - 4 (Finely Chopped)
Garlic - 10-12 (Finely Chopped)
Ginger - 1/2 Inc (Finely Chopped)
Cumin Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Garam Masala - 1/4 Teaspoon
Red Chilly Powder - 1 Teaspoon
Corinader Leaves - Few Sprigs
Salt and Oil

For the outer Layer (Roti/Paratha)
Wheat Flour - 2 Cups
Salt and Oil

Method

Roti/Paratha

In a mixing bowl, place the Wheat Flour and Salt and add enough amount of water to make a smooth pilable dough to make the Roti/Paratha.Divide them into equally sized balls. Keep this aside covered with a Damp kitchen towel.

Filling (First Method)
In a mixing Bowl, add all the ingredients except oil and mix them well. Divide this into equally sized balls.
You can use this recipe if you don't have too much of time in hand.

Filling (Second Method)
In a pan, add a tablespoon and once the oil is heated add Onions and cook till they are done. Then in the time interval of 30 seconds add the other ingredients in the Filling list one by one. Saute them at regular intervals. Saute till the Raw flavor of the masala is gone.Keep this aside.

Once this mixture is in the room temperature, divide them into equally sized Ball.

Now, Lets make the Parathas

Take the rolling board and rolling pin. Dust them with Wheat Flour and place the Wheat ball on the rolling board and using the rolling pin make the rotis. Now place the Cauliflower filling in the centre. Now pull the corners of the Roti and cover it. Now using your hands, flatten it by dusting it as required.

Now place this on the rolling board and make the Roti and cook them on the Tawa till it is done.

Smear it with Ghee or Butter. (Optional)

Kabuli Channa- Broccoli Tikki

If you have noticed off late I am making Tikkis very weekend. I have already shared the recipes for Rajma Tikki, Vegetable Tikki and Bottlegourd Tikki.

This Tikki is nice combination of Kabuli Channa and Broccoli. While preparing this Tikki I was not sure of how it would taste. I gave the Tikki to my mom to taste and she had a bite and said WOW!!!.

Everyone in the house liked the taste a lot and have asked me to make more next time.

Ingredients

Kabuli Channa - 1 Cup ( Soaked overnight)
Onion - 1 (Medium, roughly Chopped)
Broccoli - 1/2 Cup (Grated, You can use the stalk too)
Green Chillies - 1
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 Teaspoon
Garam Masala - A pinch
Red Chilly powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Coriander Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Besan or Gram Flour - 1 or 2 Tablespoon (Optional)
Coriander Leaves - Few Sprigs
Salt and Oil.

Method

In a Mixer add Kabuli Channa,Onion, Green Chillies, Ginger Garlic paste,Garam Masala, Red Chilly powder, Coriander Powder, Coriander leaves, Salt and grind into a coarse paste.

To this Coarse paste, add the grated Broccoli, Besan (If required) and roll into Tikkis.

Heat a pan and add some oil. Once the Oil is warm place the prepared tikkis on the Tava and cook on each till it is done. It will make about 5-7 minutes to cook this Tikkis on a low flame.

Cook them on a low flame as he need to get the Channa also cooked. Remember we have added uncooked Channa.

Poondu Kuzhambhu/Garlic Gravy

Being a south Indian, Rice is a must at least once in a day in our house. However, The Gravy options I usually make is either Dal or Sambhar. Alok is not a huge favorite fan of Rasam with Rice, he enjoys having it like a Soup. So Karakuzhambhu in some form sneaks into my kitchen at least once in a week.

This Karakumzhambhu is made with Garlic and so is a good break from Dal. This is Tangy and is fabtastic with Cabbage Poriyal or Kootu.

Ingredients
Garlic - 12-15 Pods
Onion - 1 (Medium, chopped)
Tomato - 1 (Meidum, chopped)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 Teaspoon
Jaggery - 1/4 Teaspoon
Red Chilly Powder - 1.5 Tablespoon
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Coriander Powder - 1/2 Tablespoon
Pepper Powder - 1/2 Teaspoon
Tamarind Juice - Extracted from a Gooseberry Sized Soaked in 2 Cups of water
Salt - As per taste
Gingelly Oil - 2 Tablespoon
Curry Leaves - Few

Method

In a pan, add Gingelly oil and once the oil is hot, splutter Mustard seeds, Cumin seeds and Fenugreek seeds and then add the Onion, Garlic and Curry leaves. Saute them till the onion is cooked.

Then add the Tomato and cook till the tomato is cooked. Then add the red chilly powder, coriander powder, Turmeric powder and salt and Saute.

After 2 minutes, add the Tamarind water and cook it till the Raw flavour of Masala and Tamarind is gone. This may take anywhere between 6-8 minutes.

Before switching off the flame, add the black pepper powder and Jaggery.

Margazhi Puja

Chennai is my favorite place on the Earth. It becomes more favourite during December - January. The Weather becomes so pleasant and it brings in so much calmness in you when you wake up at 0500 and look out.

Margazhi is also famous for Bhajans and Vennpongal. Every Margazhi in our house, we do poojas and Bhajans. We recite Thirupavai and Thiruvampavai on that.

 The month of Dhanur Maasa or name Margazhi (Dec 14th to Jan 14th), derives from the star Mrigashirsha and is considered very auspicious month for religious services. During this month the sun transits through Sagittarius sign, the house of Jupiter and ends with the Makara Sankranti.

One-and-half hours before sunrise is called Brahma Muhurta, an auspicious time best suited for worshipping Lord Vishnu as it would yield good results. Even the celestials do not fail to perform special prayers to Vishnu. This time starts with Mrigashirsha Shukla Ekadasi and ends at Dakshinaayana.

The birth of the great Margazhi month is the time when the holy star Mrigashirsha combines with Poornima thithi. It is sacred from all aspects and renders in attaining prosperity and blessings to the god himself.

The Neivedhyam for this year's Margazhi Pooja:

Venn Pongal

Medu Vada

Eggplant Kotsu

Kesari

Sundal

Seedai (I made this specially for Lord Krishna)

Fruit Cake

It is Christmas time and time for the yummilicious Fruit Cake. They are so many recipes available on this online: With Rum, Non Alcohol, With Caramel Sauce, with Brown Sugar etc.

This recipe I am sharing is easy and pretty simple. We need equal amount of Butter,sugar,Maida and Egg to whip this cake.

This cake will be fluffy inside and crispy outside.

Ingredients

Maida /AFP - 1 Cup
Butter - 1 Cup (AT room temperature)
Egg - 1 Cup
Sugar - 1 Cup
Baking powder - 1 Teaspoon
Vanilla Essence - Few Drops
Mixed Fruits and Nuts - 1 Cup (See notes below)

Method

Pre Heat the Oven at 180C. Take a Baking pan and grease it with butter and dust it with Maida.

Sieve the Maida and Baking Powder together. Sieving them together will ensure that they mixed well together uniformly. If you are a beginner you can sieve it may be 2-3 times.

Take the fruit and Nuts you want and add a tablespoon of Maida to it and mix it. The mixing of Mida will ensure that the Fruit and Nuts don't sink and is spread all over the cake.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. To this add the Vanilla essence and eggs and mix well.

Now add the sieved Maida + Baking powder to the Butter-Sugar-egg mixture and fold it.

Dont beat the batter as it will make the cake so hard. So gently fold the Maida in the wet ingredients. Folding is done to ensure that they is aeration which will make the cake fluffy inside and Crispy outside.

To this add the prepared Fruits and Nuts and gently mix this.

Now pour this prepared Batter into the prepared Baking tin and Bake it for 20-25 Minutes at 180C.

Once it is done, cool it completely and slice them and Serve.

Merry Christmas. 

Note:

The choice of Fruits and Nuts is completely up to you. I have used Cashews,Cranberris,Tutti Frutti,Badam,Walnuts,Fig,Dates,Candied Orange peel, Cake Seeds and Pista.

You can add whatever you want and how much ever you want.

Melting Moments Cookies

I love cookies. It is been quite some time I made cookies. If my memory is right the last time I made cookies was the Scottish Cookies. So I decided to bake some Cookies for this weekend.

So picked this recipe from my most Favorite website of VahChef. This website is my Go To website for all recipes. This is the website where I search for any of my recipes and the recipes given by Vahchef is 100% fool Proof. You can Half the recipe if you want. This recipe gave me about 2 Dozens of cookies.

Ingredients

Maida/AFP - 200 Grams
Butter - 100 Grams (At room Temperature)
Sugar - 120 Grams
Vanilla Essence - Few Drops
Egg - 1

Milk - 2 Tablespoon  2 Tablespoon
CornFlakes - 3-4 Tablespoons

Method

In a Mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. To this add egg and milk and mix it well.

To this add the maida and mix. Don't knead too much. This mixture will be little sticky and that's how we want this mixture to be.

Crush the cornflakes using your fingertips and keep it aside. In another small bowl keep 2 tablespoon of milk.

Now dust you hands with maida and take a marble size ball of the mixture and dip it in the milk and then roll it in crushed cornflakes.

Arrange this in the Baking tray lined with aluminium Foil.

Bake the cookies at 180C for 20-25 minutes. (Each oven is different so keep a close eye after 15 minutes).

The Cornflakes helps in retaining the shape of the cookies and also makes the cookies super crunchy.

Sunday Brunch - Jeera Pulao, Dal Tadka and Vegetable Cutlet

I have been missing the blogging pace for quite some time as work and preparations for Holidays was keeping me busy.

As a come back recipe I thought I will give a Brunch menu.

This week, I am making a Jeera Pulav, Dal Tadka and Vegetable Cutlet.

Click here for the Recipes:

Dal Tadka   

Jeera Pulav

 Vegetable Cutlet 

Vegetable Cutlet

Cutlets/Tikkis is something I always I love to have on Weekends. So I made this Cutlet as a part of this week's weekend Brunch.

It is easy to make and you can had any vegetables you want. I did not add any Maida or Cornflour to make this cutlet.

I also added Cheese so this was too soft and was melt in the mouth.

Ingredients

Potato - 2 (Medium, Boiled,peeled and Mashed)
Mixed Vegetables - 1/ 2 Cup (I used Boiled Beans,Peas)
Paneer - 1/2 Cup (Shredded)
Cheddar Cheese - 1/4 Cup (Shredded)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 Teaspoon
Green Chillies - 3 (Finely Chopped)
Garam Masala - 1/4 Teaspoon
Chilly Powder  1/2 Teaspoon
Chat Masala - 1/2 Teaspoon
Mint Leaves - 1/4 Cup (Finely Chopped)
Sooji/Rava - 1 tablespoon
Salt and Oil - As required

Method

In a bowl, add all ingredients except oil and Rava and mix it well. Then take a Golf sized ball of this mixture and shape it into desired shape.

Coat the Cutlets made with the Rava and make them ready.

Heat a Tawa, and smear oil on it. Once the Tawa is hot, place the cutlets and cook them on each side for 5 minutes or till it is crispy and done.

Jeera Pulao

This is Alok's favorite Rice Recipe. It is easy and simple to make. It tastes delicious with a SImple Dal Tadka too. So my hubby's favorite combo Jeera Pulao and Dal Tadka.

Ingredients

Basmati Rice - 1 Cup (Washed and Soaked for 30 minutes in 1.5 Cups of Water)
Cumin Seeds - 1 Tablespoon
Onion -  (Big, Sliced)
Mint Leaves - 1 Handful
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1/2 Teaspoon
Salt and Oil - As required

Method

In a Pan, heat some oil, once the oil is ho, add the Cumin Seeds and immediately add the sliced onions. Once the onions are half done, add the Mint Leaves and the Ginger Garlic paste and saute till the Onion is cooked completely.

To this add the water in which the Rice was soaked. Once the water starts boiling add the Rice and required amount of Salt.

Stir just once and cover the pan and cook it till he rice is well done. It may take about 10-15 minutes.

Open and check while the rice is getting cooked and stir may be once or twice. Over-stirring the rice will break them.

Our Tasty , simple Jeera Pulao is ready to be served.

Rajma Tikki

I have already posted recipe on Rajma Masala and Rajma Sundal. One thing I have learned with Rajma is that that if we buy it in bulk and store it, it becomes too dried up after few months and it gets very difficult to cook the Rajma.

I made that mistake of stocking lots of Rajma at home and it got dried up and it was difficult to make a masala. However, I had so much that I did not want to throw it away.

So I was squeezing my brain on how to use, that's when my hubby suggested that I can make Tikkis with them. So I came up with this recipe and it tasted good. you can save a lot of time, as we only have to half boil the Rajma say for about 5 whistles and make the Tikkis.

I made the tikkis and also did Tikki Masala. I will post the recipe of Rajma Tikki Masala soon.

Ingredients

Rajma - 1 Cup (Soaked for 12 hours and cooked for 5 whistles)
Onion - 1 (Medium, roughly chopped)
Green Chillies - 2 (Roughly Chopped)
Red Chilly Powder - 1 Tablespoon
Garam Masala - 1/2 Teaspoon
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Garlic - 4 Pods

Gram Flour - 1 Tablespoon (Optional)
Asafoetida - 1 Generous Pinch
Salt
Oil

Method

Drain the water from the Rajma. Don't throw this water, you can use it to make Rasam, Sambhar or to knead Atta.  In a blender, add all the ingredients except Gram Flour and Oil and grind it coarsely. If required add the Gram Flour, to help you make the Tikki.

Make Tikkis with the prepared mixture.

Heat a Tawa with some oil and place the made Tikki on it and cook till they are done on both sides.

Besan Chila

Alok has said a complete No no to Idly/Dosa in the breakfast as he is so bored with them. So I thought of making Besan Dosa. When he had it, he said this is called as Chila and is a Gujarati Dish.

It was quick to make and very tasty too. First time, when I made this I added vegetables like Grated Carrot, shredded Cabbage, green peas etc. This post I made simple Besan Chila. Both of them tasted awesome.

I also added ENO to this recipe to make it fluffy, you can make it without ENO also and it just turns out great.

Another thing about this recipe is that you don't need any chutney as an accompaniment. It tastes great as a dish. This is certified by my Mom and Alok who needs Chutney or Dish for any dish in the world LOL.

Ingredients

Besan / Gram Flour - 1 Cup
Onion - 1 (Medium, finely Chopped)
Water - 1/2-3/4 Cup
Green Chillies - 3 )Finely Chopped)
Ginger - 1/2 inch (Finely Chopped)
Grated Vegetables - 1/2 Cup (Optional)
Asafoetida - 1 Generous Pinch
ENO - 1 Teaspoon (Optional)
Salt and oil.

Method:

In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except oil and ENO and make a batter of Dosa batter consistency. Let it sit for 10 minutes.Add ENO to the batter just before making the Dosa/Chila.

Meanwhile, heat a Tawa and smear some cooking oil on it. Take the prepared batter and pour small portions of batter in the tawa and cook till both sides are done and crispy.

Pepper Curry - Instant Relief from Cold

It is time for Vegan Thursday, an event initiated by Priya. So got this recipe from my Mom's cookbook. Whenever anyone has Cold or fever mom will prepare this dish. Dont think that it will taste like medicine, it tastes FAB and it is pretty easy to make.

Take this Curry with hot rice and you will feel instant relief from headache,Cold and Sinus.

Ingredients
Gram Dal  - 1 Tablespoon
Thoor Dal - 1 Tablespoon
Fenugreek - 1/2 Teaspoon
Pepper - 2 Tablespoon
Coriander Seeds - 2 Tablespoon
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Dry Red Chilles - 10 Nos
Urad Dal - 1/2 teaspoon
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 Teaspoon
Tamarind - Gooseberry size soaked in 1 cup of warm water
Asafoetida - a Generous Pinch
Curry Leaves
Oil - 2 Tablespoon (Preferably Gingelly Oil)

Method

In a pan, add a teaspoon of oil and roast the ingredients in the given order: Corinader seeds,Dry Red Chillies,Thoor dal,Gram Dal,Urad Dal,pepper,fenugreek,cumin seed and Asafoetida. Give a gap of 30-45 seconds before adding each ingredient.Allow it to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare Tamarind juice with the Tamarind soaked in water.

Take the roasted ingredients in a blender and grind them. While grinding, instead of water use the tamarind water and grind it into a paste. Add turmeric powder to the paste.

The paste should not be too coarse or not too smooth. It needs to be little grainy and not a fine paste.

Now take a pan, heat 2 tablespoon of oil season with Mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida and add the paste and cook it for some time till the raw flavour is gone. It may take around 5- 8 minutes.

You can store it in refrigerator for 2-3 Days. In case you plan to store it do not use curry leaves.